Fintech News: October 7th, 2016

The largest US banks are teaming up to build Zelle, their own Venmo-killer, but are they too late? This article looks into emoji usage on Venmo, and the stickiness and brand loyalty that the payments app has built with Millennials. The most popular emojs? Anything related to drinking, eating, traveling, and paying rent.

Robinhood, the free-trade brokerage, has released a premium subscription plan, Robinhood Gold. For plans ranging from $10 to $50 a month, clients can trade during after-market hours and trade on varying levels of margin. This program’s success will pan out interestingly, as finance is one of few industries where subscription models have not taken off.